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Hillary Clinton's real Libya problem--Not the E-Mails but Policy Questions
By Stephen Collinson, CNN
Republicans and some Democrats are criticizing the policy of U.S. intervention in Libya
Hillary Clinton was a key force in the U.S. getting involved in the North African state
She will face questions about her role in that decision on the campaign trail
Gadhafi's ouster first seen as a triumph
Initially, the Libya intervention seemed set to go down as one of the Obama administration's triumphs.
"We came, we saw, he died," Clinton joked with a television reporter in the wake of the death of the fugitive Gadhafi at the hands of a mob, days after she visited Tripoli in support of Libya's transitional government.
But when Gadhafi fell, he left a land of eviscerated political institutions ill-prepared for its sudden freedom.
Torn by tribalism, ruled by two rival parliaments and with hundreds of civilians killed during the subsequent civil war, Libya is suffering a complete breakdown of political authority, which has spurred the rise of a host of terror groups. The unrest has also spawned a huge refugee crisis as desperate migrants flee across the Mediterranean on overcrowded boats.
And where chaos and anarchy rein, terror groups often see opportunity.
------snip-------
Clinton 'a critical voice on Libya'
"HRC has been a critical voice on Libya in administration deliberations, at NATO, and in contact group meetings -- as well as the public face of the U.S. effort in Libya. She was instrumental in securing the authorization, building the coalition, and tightening the noose around Qadhafi and his regime," Sullivan wrote.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates also describes her pivotal role in the decision making in his memoir.
Gates said the intervention, which he initially opposed, split the administration down the middle, with heavy hitters such as Vice President Joe Biden and national security adviser Tom Donilon also against.
On the other side were U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and National Security Council staffers including Ben Rhodes and Samantha Power.
"In the final phase of the internal debate, Hillary threw her considerable clout behind Rice, Rhodes and Power," Gates wrote.
Clinton's prominent role in the decision making on Libya was a political risk at the time, and it now threatens to return to haunt her four years on.
"We haven't gotten the full story yet, but from everything we do know, it appears that without her advocacy for this intervention, it wouldn't have happened," said Alan Kuperman of the Lyndon B. Johnson school of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, who has studied the causes and outcome of the Libya operation.
Some critics now question whether the administration, presumably working from intelligence provided by rebels, miscalculated on Gadhafi's intentions. And they say that the administration did not do enough to consider the consequences of an operation that ended up toppling Gadhafi.
"If you were going to break this place, it was going to require enormous resources to keep it together," Kuperman said. "It would have required an occupation force, and it was clear that the U.S. did not have the stomach for that."
He concluded: "Did she screw up? Yes, she screwed up."
But one U.S. official involved with the planning of the Libya engagement defended Clinton's position.
"I think that it is tempting always in hindsight to say Libya would be better somehow if we had not intervened," said Derek Chollet, a close national security adviser to Clinton and Obama at the time of the Libya operation.
"I think that is a highly dubious proposition. It is one where, had we not intervened, the conversation we would be having is thousands and thousands of people died and Libya looks like Syria."
But it is always hard in political campaigns to prove that but for a specific course of action, things could have turned out worse than they actually did. And Clinton's opponents, especially Republicans who want to dismantle her credentials as a potential commander in chief, are already signaling that Libya will be a significant political battleground in 2016.
More of a long read..but, seems fairly balanced...at:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/08/politics/hillary-clinton-libya-election-2016/?iid=ob_article_hillaryclinton_pool&iref=obnetwork
45 replies
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but for us here at Home because War Sucks Up Money we NEED...and instead we get "Austerity Programs" for Average Americans while the 99% has prospered after We Taxpayers Bailed Them Out! And, our Taxpayer Dollars went to Killing, Dislocating and Maiming and causing Hundreds of Millions of Innocent Refugees with No HOPE for a Future! Their "Policy" is Blood on Our Hands!
WTF! 
